Most Instagram-Worthy Eats in San Diego

San Diego offers many diverse dining experiences that is sure to please any foodie. Here are my three favorite restaurants and three dessert places around America’s finest city.

Osso Bucco at Arrivederci.

Ristorante Arrivederci

Arrivederci is a wonderful Italian restaurant located not in Little Italy but in the charming Hillcrest area. The restaurant is small and cozy, and perfect for a date night. For larger groups, I recommend making a reservation. We ordered dishes like the OssoBuco and squid ink pasta. Like most Italian restaurants, the portions are big enough to share.

Cafe 21 in San Diego.

Cafe 21

San Diego has a pretty big brunch scene and Cafe 21 has to be one of our favorites. The atmosphere is homey and the decor is trendy. You can’t go wrong with one of the cast iron skillet omelets. We also ordered the tiramisu pancakes and the eggs benedict. The mimosa flight is fun to try and picturesque as well. We opted to sit outside due to the beautiful weather that day. After brunch, drive to Hammond’s Gourmet Ice Cream (see below) and shop around Pigment.

Sushi Ota in San Diego.

Sushi Ota

San Diego seafood is a must and we opted to try Sushi Ota to get our fix. We made reservations for 5pm when they opened and it was a good choice. The restaurant can get quite busy on any day of the week. The fish is fresh and prepared quite elegantly. The service is attentive and respectful. We ordered a bunch of sashimi and sushi like sweet shrimp, salmon belly, uni, etc. You really can’t go wrong ordering here. Next time we would like to try the omakase!

Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego.

Extraordinary Desserts

Extraordinary Desserts lives up to the name. Trust me. The 5th street location is cosy and cute for a nice date night. I would recommend the Union Street location for bigger groups. The desserts at Extraordinary change from time to time so it’s difficult to recommend anything. That being said, order one of everything!! The desserts are as good as they look.

Hammond’s Ice Cream in San Diego.

Hammond’s Gourmet Ice Cream

Being a big ice cream person, we had to visit Hammond’s to try the famous 32 ice cream flight. Now don’t take on this challenge without a little help from your friends. Our favorite flavors: toasted coconut, Vietnamese coffee, blueberry cheesecake, white tiger, and lychee. Don’t forget to tip the hard working scoopers!

iDessert in San Diego.

iDessert by Jean Philippe

iDessert offers a quite different dessert experience. From the mastermind of Jean Philippe, the Vegas-inspired dessert is beautiful and very fun to eat. You can start by ordering and customizing the meringue covered ice cream. You can also opt to choose the “Vegas Bowl” which uses dry ice to give your dessert an even more fancy presentation.

Have you been to any of these places to eat? What are your favorite San Diego eats?